October 12, 2022

Conference News

Bishop Requests a Pause on Church Conferences During Holiday Season

Bishop David Graves, resident bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, has called for a pause on any special church conferences or town hall meetings related to local church disaffiliations between November 20, 2022-January 1,2023. “During this time our focus should be on giving thanks before moving into Advent,” stated Bishop Graves. “Our churches need to prepare to welcome record crowds during Advent. This request speaks to my desire for churches to focus on mission and ministry; especially during one of the busiest liturgical seasons of the year for local churches. Moreover, our four district superintendents have worked tirelessly in 2022 to accommodate numerous requests from local churches to hold church conferences and town hall meetings. These leaders deserve this time to focus on family and their personal faith walk.” Three special-called annual conference sessions have been scheduled over the course of the next thirteen months in order to accommodate all churches considering disaffiliation. Those dates are November 12, 2022; May 7, 2023 and November 12, 2023.

AWF Trustees Provide Update on Work Post Sunset Clause and Church Property

The Alabama-West Florida Conference Board of Trustees met on October 6, 2022. During this meeting, work continued on presenting a plan for the voting members of annual conference to ratify in June of 2023. The plan will outline a fair and equitable way for Alabama-West Florida churches to depart beginning January 1, 2024. Currently any church voting to disaffiliate does so under the guidance of paragraph 2553 in the Book of Discipline. That paragraph sunsets on December 31, 2023. The intent of the plan allows churches to wait and see the outcome from legislation adopted at the 2024 General Conference before making any final decisions. The trustees voted unanimously to continue their practice of allowing churches to keep their property by fulfilling conference liabilities upon departure, absent unique or unusual circumstances, when all other financial obligations are fulfilled by the departing church. More here.

Hurricane Ian Update

Thanks to all who have assisted with the cleaning kit collections and made a financial contribution to assist with Hurricane Ian relief efforts in the Florida Conference. This past weekend, Rev. Chris Ackerman, AWF Conference disaster response coordinator, took Lynn Haven UMC’s shower trailer to Good Shepherd UMC in Fort Myers, FL. The use of this shower trailer will allow Good Shepherd to host multiple ERT teams coming in to do relief work. This week, Rev. Ackerman and his team will be going to all the districts in the conference collecting the assembled cleaning kits and will then take them to Fort Myers, FL. This once again shows the beauty and strength of our connection as United Methodists! It’s not too late to help! Click here to find more information on making monetary donations as well as cleaning kit instructions.

Around the Conference

2023 Special Called Annual Conference Sessions

Bishop David Graves, episcopal leader of the Alabama-West Florida Conference, in accordance with ¶603.5 of the 2016 Book of Discipline, calls for two 2023 special sessions of the annual conference on Sunday, May 7, 2023, and Sunday, November 12, 2023. These meetings are in addition to the already-announced special session on Saturday, November 12, 2022. All special-called sessions will be held via Zoom. More here. If you are a voting member to annual conference, you should have received a registration invite for the November 2022 session. Please reach out to Sarah McWilliams if you did not receive that email. A live stream link for those who are not voting members will be provided the week before the session.

Connectional News

Bishops push back against recruitment tactics

(UM News) — As churches weigh disaffiliation, bishops are trying to set the record straight on misinformation being spread about The United Methodist Church’s future. They also are working toward building a church where traditionalists, centrists and progressives will all feel they belong. Meanwhile, a recent church court decision could have an impact on disaffiliation lawsuits in civil court. More here.

Bishop Mande Muyombo to transition to Connectional Table Chair

(UM News) - The Connectional Table (CT) executive committee announced at their October 6th meeting the transition of the CT Chair. Bishop Mande Muyombo will transition to the role as the chair of the Connectional Table on December 1, 2022. Bishop Muyombo will succeed Bishop Christian Alsted, who has served as chair since 2016. Bishop Muyombo is the resident bishop of the North Katanga Episcopal Area, which includes the North Katanga, Tanganyika and Tanzania annual conferences. “Bishop Alsted has done a wonderful job of leading the CT to embrace its role of discerning and articulating the vision for our worldwide church,” said the Rev. Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, Chief Connectional Ministries Officer of the CT. “We look forward to Bishop Muyombo bringing his expertise and experience to the CT and have appreciated the ways in which these two bishops have worked together in this transition.” More here.

Resources

Laity Sunday Resources

(Discipleship Ministries) - Laity Sunday celebrates the ministry of all Christians to love God and neighbor. As we (the people) grow in grace to become “all love” disciples in community, we gather with others and connect all to God’s love in Jesus Christ. So, on Laity Sunday (this year, October 16, 2022), we continue to lift up the vocation of all to follow the way of Jesus and lead others to him – particularly as we rediscover practices of togetherness that reveal “God’s presence for the life of the world” (Dorothy Bass, Craig Dykstra, “A Theological Understanding of Christian Practices,” Lifelong Faith, (Volume 2.2 Summer 2008), 5). Click here for resources.

Everything You Need to Plan Your Advent Service

(Discipleship Ministries) - Not ready for the Advent season? We’ve got you covered. From Preaching Notes to Worship Suggestions, enjoy helpful tools to inspire your worship planning experience. The theme for this season is “An Advent Song of Ascents.” Click the link below to see the break down for each Sunday. More here.

Small-group studies available for anti-racism podcast

(Religion and Race) - The United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race has released small-group study guides for each episode in the first season of “Expanding the Table,” the agency’s award-winning podcast on practicing anti-racism. Additionally, the agency has added full transcripts for each episode to aid in accessibility. View resource.